CRACK-COCAINE OFFENDERS SEEK SHORTER SENTENCES UNDER LAW

Change To Guidelines Could Mean Shorter Stints For Hundreds In N.C.

People convicted of crack-cocaine offenses in eastern North Carolina
already have started inquiring about their sentences to see if they
are eligible for shorter terms, according to a spokeswoman for federal
prosecutors.

Almost 500 offenders in 44 counties in the eastern part of the state
are potentially eligible for shorter sentences because of new
retroactive federal sentencing guidelines that took effect last week.

Beginning March 3, those convicted of crack-cocaine charges could
start petitioning federal judges for shorter prison terms. Across the
country, about 20,000 offenders became eligible for shorter prison
terms that day, according to a news release from the U.S. Department
of Justice.

The N.C. Eastern Federal Public Defender is handling motions in all
cases unless the offenders are represented by a private attorney or
there's a conflict, said Elizabeth Luck, a spokeswoman for the Raleigh
office.

"We're getting lots of calls from clients asking if they're eligible,"
Luck said Tuesday. "Everybody wants to know if they're eligible."

Ben David, district attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties, who
has diverted some of the more serious drug cases in the county to
federal court, said federal judges should carefully scrutinize cases
before deciding to reduce sentences.

"Illegal drugs, notably crack cocaine, are the gasoline for the engine
of violent crime," he said in an e-mail. "Many of these defendants are
dangerous felons in possession of firearms who commit violent offenses
with little to no regard for human life."

The changes in federal sentencing guidelines stem from a U.S.
Sentencing Commission vote in December to make new crack-cocaine
penalties retroactive, according to a news release from the commission.

New crack-cocaine penalties took effect in November 2007 to address
the disparity between federal sentences for crack cocaine and the
powder form of the drug, the commission stated.

Cocaine is a stimulant. The powdered, hydrochloride salt form of
cocaine can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected, according
to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Crack is cocaine in the
form of a rock crystal that can be heated and its vapors smoked. The
term "crack" refers to the crackling sound heard when it is heated,
according to the DEA.

Not every offender will be eligible for a shorter sentence. A federal
judge will balance the public's safety against the decision to release
a crack-cocaine convict early, according to the commission. Each
federal judge will decide how much a sentence should be curtailed.

The impact will be incremental over the next 30 years because many
offenders will still have to complete mandatory five-to 10-year
sentences, according to a U.S. Sentencing Commission news release.

Eastern District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding
said in a news release that many of the offenders have gang ties and
that his office would continue to investigate and prosecute
crack-cocaine offenders.

"Crack cocaine remains a plague which affects some of our most
vulnerable neighborhoods," Holding said in the release. "We refuse to
surrender those vulnerable neighborhoods and citizens to drug dealers
and gang members."